Chango Loco Pechuga Mezcal
The Chango Loco Rosa Pechuga is distilled in clay pots, using traditional Pechuga methods that include adding a raw chicken breast to the still during distillation. There are tinges of raisins, oranges, apples, anis, and almonds filling the nose and palate.
Is reviving the chango mezcalero by featuring a monkey as their bottle. Each limited edition bottle is hand-blown, numbered, painted, and filled using traditional equipment and techniques.
Brand History
The chango, or monkey, has long been associated with mezcal. The Oaxacan people have been sculpting and painting clay monkey bottles to house mezcal for about 100 years. These monkey bottles, often made of the black clay found in San Bartolo Coyotepec, were given as presents and sold as souvenirs. Often, these bottles were labeled at the bottom with a name, and words such as, “Recuerdo Oaxaca, 1943,” were painted on the back. These clay mezcal monkeys, or Chango Mezcaleros, are still made today in Oaxaca, though the superior quality antique monkeys are very difficult to find and highly collectible.
The Chango Loco Mezcal brand comes from an idea that spawned from many years of collecting these antique chango mezcalero bottles while developing a deep appreciation for the mezcal itself. Chango Loco Mezcal’s bottle is a tribute to the past and a reincarnation of a historical Oaxacan tradition.
Mezcal has been made for a long time. Since colonial Mexico, agave has been cooked, its juices fermented, then distilled, and the resulting spirit eventually came to be known as mezcal. Their search for the best mezcal took them all over Mexico. The differences in taste of the same agave grown in different regions became apparent. The unique taste characteristics of each species of agave became distinct. They found that the ingenious techniques used in these generations-old family mezcal recipes vary significantly from palenque to palenque. Every Mezcalero has its special way of turning agave into liquor and there are endless factors that contribute to a finished mezcal’s taste.
Chango Loco Mezcal adheres to certain standards:
- They are proud to support the independent farmer, master, their maestro mezcalero, and they promise to continue traditionally and maintain an unadulterated and authentic product.
- Their Mezcal is made with 100% organically grown agave that has been allowed to fully mature before being harvested.
- Traditional subterranean ovens are used to roast the agave for a full week, resulting in an exquisitely smoky juice. Their Mezcal is smoky, as it is meant to be.
- The roasted piñas (agave hearts) are mashed using a stone wheel (or hand-mallet for their Pechuga), not a machine.
- Mashed piñas are allowed to ferment using naturally occurring yeasts without any additives.
- They distill their Espadin and Madrecuixe using a copper still, but their Pechuga is distilled using a clay pot still. There is nothing industrial about clay still!!
